Doctor Who - The Curse of the Black Spot

Doctor Who - Here be pirates! This week we all strapped in for a swashbuckling tale of curses, sword-fights and other assorted high-seas paraphernalia, and boy was it a jolly good romp. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that The Curse of the Black Spot represents the first 'regular' (as in, not a special or two-parter episode) since last year's The Lodger. After the drama and tension of the Pandorica finale, The Silence, with a little bit of Katherine Jenkins sprinkled in between, how would the show now cope delivering a regular 45 minute episode?

The answer is of course, very well indeed - especially as Doctor Who can be counted on as a show to never be truly 'regular'. Any worries that this might be another Fear Her were swiftly eliminated. Despite the many pirate cliche's on offer, they never became cheesy or annoying, instead offering a rich and dynamic environment for the Doctor to explore. Much has been said about how the show always fares more poorly in 'historical' episodes; well, how about a 'historical' that suddenly turns itself up on its head half-way through and throws in a brilliant sci-fi twist. We find out that a space-ship is actually occupying the same location as Captain Avery's vessel, and with this discovery, the tale is given a whole new lease of life.

Thrown from the chilling tone on the deck of the 17th century ship where the wonderfully gorgeous and mysterious Lily Cole has been enchanting sailors to their death, we now find ourselves in an equally creepy medical bay. Here, things get very Star Trek Voyager as it is revealed Lily Cole's Siren is in fact part of an 'automated sickbay'; a kind of virtual doctor. The show proceeds to do what it always does so well, The Doctor triumphing through pure logic, saving the day (and Rory's life).

For a character that never once spoke, Lily Cole managed to inject a real presence into the episode. Her elegant beauty and stunning model looks were exactly what the role needed; you felt like you could almost be drawn into the TV screen by her charms,  zapped up into nothingness like the poor sailors afflicted by the black spot. Major credit must go to the special effects team too for this episode; anyone who watched the accompanying Confidential show will have seen how much went into creating everything on screen, and it all looked utterly convincing; a far cry from the 'rubbery' nature that afflicted certain parts of the show a few years ago *cough* (the Slitheen...)

Captain Avery, again, brilliantly cast - His kinship with the Doctor - both captain's of a sort, was wonderful. The developing relationship with his stowaway son added a real human element to the episode too, as did Amy's efforts to resuscitate Rory in the closing scenes. And then you had Amy herself; now she could give Keira Knightly a good run for her money after this episode! From Curse of the Black Pearl to Curse of the Black Spot, Doctor Who doing 'Pirates' really was better than I ever imagined it could be, and really fills me with hope for future historical episodes.

(Also, I wonder if any fans out there will come up with any links between the pirates heading off into space at the end of this episode with classic series episodes The Pirate Planet or Enlightenment.)